It is hard to believe that some count the last hours as being the darkest ever. I do not mean in a natural light sense – sunlight, daylight saving time and all that – but in the sense of a set back for the human race, a turnaround in the wrong direction, a return to the days of cave dwelling and moral darkness. The United States of America, thanks to a clear and very public ruling by the Supreme Court, now officially has same-sex civil unions or, as some people wish to call it, marriage for homosexuals. This, apparently, is what will bring the End Times, the Wrath of God – or whatever – down upon our heads, and not rape, torture, terrorism, adultery, incest, blasphemy, idolatry – the alternate list is almost endless.

In what could be called the darkest week for (some) Americans, the Supreme Court has ruled on medical insurance, equality and many other subjects – directly or through clear relationships and follow-up legislation which will have to come – and damned the prospects of those who would limit the freedoms of ordinary Americans; who would split the country into rich and poor; who would allow money to decide who can live and who must die. For everyone else, for those who see the benefits and civil advancement caused by these decisions – which should have been seen and accepted as civil rights decades ago – it has been a week of blessings, of light, and of relief.

Slowly but surely, the United States is catching up with the Old World, the outdated world, with those who were meant to be left behind so many years ago. Slowly the USA is nearly parity with Europe in medical, democratic and civil rights, and pure quality of life.